NAF World RX of Norway was organised in a small town called Hell, 30 km east of Tröndheim. RX Lites teams have visited the HellRX Circuit for the second time as a supporting event to FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy. Due to busy schedule of 4 different classes, including WorldRX, EuroRX, Touring Cars and RX Lites, race weekend extended to 3 days by the organisers. The first qualifying races for RX lites was run on late Friday afternoon. The temperatures as low as 10 C, effected the spectators and drivers as jokes spread out : Hell is frozen!
JC Racetek driver Thomas Bryntesson was on top of the podium for the 3rd time this year. Young Norwegian was not happy with the result back in Lydden Hill and willing to win in his home soil. After a clever tyre and joker lap startegy, he managed to win the 4th round of 2016 season. This win helped hm to reduce the gap to only 1 point between the series leader Cyril Raymond, as he finished the HellRX at 2nd position. Simon Olofsson once again grabbed the 3rd position points and reached to Joachim Hvaal aqually at 82 points.
Former Olympic athlete, Rally and Dakar driver Albert Llovera of Andorra joined the Lotto Team this weekend in Hell. He was driving a specially designed RX Lites and had an experience on his first rallycross outing at World level. He will be present at the entry list in Höljes and Barcelon again this year.
Another rookie for the series was Henrik Krogstad. 18 year old Norwegian stormed into the track and played a leading role in some incidents. His passionate and agrassive drive resulted a warning penalty for pushing hard in one of the qualifying races. On his first RX Lites experience he made it to final race and finished at 4th overall. Kenyan Tejas Hirani had good rsults on qualifying rounds and started at the final race. He was right behind his team mate Cyril Ramond on the first laps but couldn’t defend his position. Especially on the final lap, Hirani couldn’t stop Krogstad to take over and finished 5th. Joachim Hvaal finished 6th but had enough points to keep his 3rd position overall.
One of the hit moments of HellRX was Jonathan Walfridsson’s roll. Right after the start of Q4R1 Jonathantried to attack on Sondre Evjen toe get advantage at the frist corner but as he bounced beck after an hard shoulder, he started to roll and could stop even behind the joker lap after 3 big and fast rolls. As he dropped on to four wheels with a running engine, Walfridsson continued his lap and this move was appreciated by the spectators as they cheer loud. Unfortunately, broken wishbone on both rear sides stopped him after a few hundred meters. Thanks to his mechanics, he managed to drive at the semi final on sunday but couldn’t qualified for the final.
It’s already half season for the teams and drivers for RX Lites. 4 rounds are left behind and 3 more to go. Next race will be held in Höljes, Sweden in 3 weeks and it is expected to see a record breaking entry number in this legendary rallycross temple.
Bonus photo:
Here are the final results of HellRX of Norway:
| R | DRIVER | TIME | DIFF.LEADER | CHAMP. POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Bryntesson | 4:12.701 | 8 | |
| 2 | Cyril Raymond | 4:13.828 | +1.127 | 5 |
| 3 | Simon Olofsson | 4:15.569 | +2.867 | 4 |
| 4 | Henrik Krogstad | 4:17.285 | +4.583 | 3 |
| 5 | Tejas Hirani | 4:18.871 | +6.169 | 2 |
| 6 | Joachim Hvaal | 4:19.946 | +7.245 | 1 |
You can find more details in our results page: rxlites.com/results
Photo credit : Çağlar Süren